1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organizing apparatus for baby strollers and the like. More specifically, the invention relates to a removable cover for an umbrella-type baby stroller which presents a plurality of readily accessible pockets.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Most parents are well aware of the problems associated with travelling with infants or other small children. Typically, a baby carriage or stroller is used for shopping, short distance transportation or other events where holding the child is impractical. However, transporting the child is only a part of the problem. A variety of items are also generally required to meet the seemingly constant needs of the child. For example, it is not uncommon for a parent or child care provider to also transport baby bottles, baby food, diapers, moist baby wipes, pacifiers, baby toys, bibs and a change of clothes even when only a short excursion is contemplated. Keeping track of these items as well as the personal items of the child care provider is not an easy task especially when all of the items are commingled in a diaper bag and/or a purse.
Even where the diaper bag provides a plurality of pockets to organize the items, it is still difficult to simultaneously carry the bag and push the stroller. A common solution to this problem is to haphazardly hang the diaper bag from the back of the baby stroller. This solution, however, is less than ideal. The pockets of the diaper bag are often inaccessible without removing the bag from the stroller making access to the contents of the diaper bag a difficult and time consuming task. Further, the weight of the bag and its contents hanging from the back of the stroller handles often cause the stroller to tip over when the child is removed from the seat.
One solution to this problem was disclosed in my earlier application Ser. No. 091,446 filed on Aug. 31, 1987. Therein, I disclosed and claimed an organizing apparatus for a baby stroller in which wing portions of a T-shaped covering body are adapted to extend over the sides of the stroller. These wings contain pockets in which various accessories may be carried.
Another solution to this problem is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,157,839 which teaches the use of a cushion device for a baby carriage which includes a bag-like receptacle positioned behind the back portion of a carriage. The bag-like receptacle may be removably attached to the cushion device. This device, however, fails to include sufficient means to organize all of the child's provisions. Moreover, this device does not include a tuck portion at the intersection of the back segment and the seat segment and does not contain a front pocket into which the front of the stroller is inserted. Furthermore, because the cushion device was claimed to be applicable to all baby carriages, the placement of the bag on some carriages would create an unbalanced weight load causing undesired tipping.